1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid discharging apparatus and a method of cleaning a scale portion.
2. Related Art
To date, liquid discharging apparatuses have been used that are provided with a carriage that is capable of moving in the scanning direction and that has a discharging portion capable of discharging a liquid. Such apparatuses are often provided with a scale portion for confirming the position of the carriage so that the liquid can be discharged at desired positions on the media.
For example, JP-A-2006-289771 describes an ink jet recording apparatus (liquid discharging apparatus) provided with a carriage that is capable of moving in the scanning direction and that has a recording head (discharging portion) capable of discharging ink (liquid); an encoder scale (scale portion) for confirming the position of the carriage; and a flexible member (cleaning portion) for removing ink mist that has adhered to the encoder scale.
In recent years, a need has arisen for a liquid discharging apparatus that can discharge a liquid onto various types of media such as, for example, fabric. When fabric is supported by the media supporting portion, unevenness in the fabric tends to become more profound and fluffing and the like is prone to occur. As such, when discharging liquid on fabric, it is common to increase the space between the discharging portion and the fabric. However, the amount of mist produced generally increases as a result of increasing the space. Consequently, mist adheres to the scale portion which may, in some cases, lead to a decline in the confirmation accuracy of the carriage.
For this reason, the ink jet recording apparatus described in JP-A-2006-289771 is provided with a flexible member for removing ink mist that has adhered to the encoder scale. However, the flexible member is in a state of constant contact with the encoder scale and the flexible member causes the encoder scale to vibrate while ink is being discharged, which may lead to instability in the movement of the carriage and deviation in the discharging position of the ink (i.e., a decline in recording quality).
As such, in recent years, a particular need has arisen for a liquid discharging apparatus provided with a carriage, capable of moving in the scanning direction and having a discharging portion capable of discharging a liquid, in which instability in the movement of the carriage can be prevented.